Pro-Life Advocate: We Can’t Support National Dems Until Party Leadership Changes

Father Frank Pavone told NTK Network that groups like his are open to supporting pro-life Democratic candidates at the local level.

By NTK Staff | 07.05.2017 @7:32am

Father Frank Pavone, the National Director of Priests for Life, spoke to NTK Network about the possibility of pro-life groups like Priests for Life supporting Democratic candidates in the 2018 midterm elections.

Pavone seemed open to the possibility of supporting a pro-life Democrat at the local level, but not at the national level, citing the need for change within Democratic leadership.

“If there were a race between a pro-abortion Republican and a pro-life Democrat, and we saw a way in the governorship, for instance, to actually bring protection to these babies, it would not be against our principles to support the pro-life Democrat,” Pavone told NTK.

At the national level, however, Pavone seemed less willing to support a Democratic candidate until there is a fundamental change in the party’s leadership.

“There is more of a divide on the national level between Republicans and Democrats on this issue,” Pavone told NTK, citing the platforms that Republicans and Democrats drafted during their conventions in 2016 as an example of the divide that exists.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez brought this divide into the national spotlight when he refused to back a Democratic candidate in the mayoral contest in Omaha, Nebraska. The Democrat, Heath Mello, was a pro-life candidate.

“I think the two parties are as committed as they’ve ever been to the opposite sides of this fundamental issue,” Pavone said. “There used to be a few dozen pro-life Democrats in the House, and now you can count them on one hand.”

“If you had a pro-life Democrat running for Congress, you got to look at the balance of power, because once the Democratic Party is in control, well then of course it has implications far beyond what that one particular candidate can or cannot accomplish.”

Pavone then expressed his opinion that the Democratic Party’s pro-choice agenda doesn’t reflect the base of the party.

“There are so many pro-life Democrats across America,” he said. “I meet them all the time during the course of my travels.”

“I think the Democratic Party needs to do some soul-searching, some repenting, some changing,” Pavone added. “They have shown no willingness to change.”